Louise Cunningham asks people to keep open mind as search for missing 45-year-old enters ninth dayThe sister of Nicola Bulley has urged people to keep an open mind about her disappearance as the search enters its ninth day.Multi-agency search teams continued to trawl the river near St Michael’s on Wyre, working on the hypothesis that the 45-year-old mortgage adviser from nearby Inskip could have fallen in. Continue reading...
Pontiff says on peace mission that religious leaders ‘cannot remain neutral’ amid abuses of powerPope Francis has said churches in South Sudan “cannot remain neutral” but must raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power, as he and two other Christian leaders conducted a peace mission to the world’s newest country.On his first full day in South Sudan, Francis addressed Catholic bishops, priests and nuns in St Theresa Cathedral in the capital, Juba, as the archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland held services elsewhere. Continue reading...
NHS also says Sunday 12 February is last day this age group can attend a site for primary vaccinationsPeople in England aged 49 and younger are being urged to come forward for their free Covid booster if they have not yet received a full set of injections.The NHS has said Sunday 12 February will be the last day people in this age group can attend a vaccination site for their primary doses, while hundreds of thousands of appointments will be available for booster jabs. Continue reading...
Temperatures expected to plummet on Sunday evening in two-day cold snapA cold weather warning has been issued for England by the UK Health Security Agency, which is advising that vulnerable people be checked in on as temperatures plunge later this weekend.The UKHSA and the Met Office said a cold snap would hit England between 6pm on Sunday and 6pm on Tuesday. Temperatures could fall to -3C in rural areas and frost was expected. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#68H0W)
Dragons’ Den investor wants to offer financial workshops after being asked for help by those affected by 2017 disasterSteven Bartlett, the multimillionaire Dragons’ Den investor, is planning a “money school” for the Grenfell Tower community to advise potential entrepreneurs.The 30-year-old wants to offer free weekend workshops with other financial advisers after being asked for help by people affected by the 14 June 2017 disaster, which claimed 72 lives. Continue reading...
Crammed with minuscule writing, manuscript is seen as earliest ‘proper reader’s response’ to first folioIn 2017, an expert on BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow was excited by a minuscule 17th-century notebook that bore the name of Shakespeare, but the writing was so tiny it was difficult to read.Since then, it has been transcribed and studied by leading scholars and its anonymous author has emerged as what is thought to have been the playwright’s first obsessive fan. Continue reading...
Canadian province argues in court it is not responsible for compensating Indigenous people over broken treaty obligationsOntario has claimed that it does not need to pay billions of dollars owed to First Nations over broken treaty obligations, arguing that it has already spent the sum on the historical costs of resource extraction and the infrastructure of “colonization”.Canada’s federal government and the province have spent the last week in a Sudbury court arguing neither is responsible for compensating Indigenous nations for more than 150 years of lost revenues. Continue reading...
Survivors tell Italian authorities vessel carrying about 50 people lost its way trying to cross from TunisiaA baby was among nine people including his mother and a pregnant woman who died of cold and thirst on a boat carrying about 50 migrants across the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities have said.Survivors who landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa after being rescued late on Thursday told investigators the four-month-old baby slipped out of the boat after his mother, who was holding him, collapsed and died from exposure. Continue reading...
Award-winning director, who was arrested in July, is released from Evin prison in TehranThe acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, a rights group and supporters said on Friday.Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter. Iran’s Shargh newspaper posted an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter. Continue reading...
Welsh government offering health staff extra 3% – half one-off, half consolidated – on top of 4.5% increase. This live blog is closedMichelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland and first minister designate, has said she is “encouraged” by what she is hearing about the prospects of the UK and the EU reaching a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol.Speaking after a meeting with Micheál Martin, the Irish foreign minister and tánaiste (Irish deputy PM), in Belfast, she said:I am very much encouraged by what we’re hearing, I think the tánaiste shares that same assessment and we want both sides to continue in earnest to get a deal, to close this out, to close it out as quickly as possible.This was a useful and constructive conversation. Over eighteen months ago we outlined the parameters for the way forward. We set our tests and those continue to be our yardstick for measuring any deal between the EU and UK.There will be no restoration of the NI executive until the protocol is replaced with arrangements that unionists, as well as nationalists, can support. Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market must be restored and our constitutional arrangements must be respected. Continue reading...
Exclusive: civil servant who gave anonymous interview to BBC about Afghan withdrawal says service ‘dangerously politicised’A whistleblower who revealed Britain’s chaotic response to the fall of Kabul has said the civil service has become so dangerously politicised that officials who speak out risk being sidelined or sacked.In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Josie Stewart said her former colleagues felt their role was to protect ministers, some of whom were only interested in “looking good”, rather than working in the interests of the public. Continue reading...
Glitter has faced multiple jail sentences for abuse of girls in the UK and VietnamGary Glitter has been released from prison after serving half of his 16-year sentence for sexually abusing girls at the height of his fame in the 1970s and 80s.This conviction relates to historical offences committed in the UK, but Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was also found guilty of obscene acts against children in Vietnam. Here, the Guardian details the sentences the disgraced pop star has been handed at home and abroad. Continue reading...
Blue-chip stock index rises above previous record of 7,903 set in May 2018The UK’s blue-chip share index has hit an all-time high of 7,906.58.The FTSE 100 index was up 84 points or 1.1%, taking it above the previous record high of 7,903.50 set on 22 May 2018. Continue reading...
by Harriet Sherwood Arts and culture correspondent on (#68G8J)
Featherstone is latest high-profile figure to leave a major theatre in recent monthsThe artistic director of the Royal Court, one of London’s most prestigious theatres, is stepping down after 10 years in the job.Vicky Featherstone, who has nurtured hundreds of emerging and established writers in her time at the Royal Court, will leave later this year. Having set herself a 10-year time limit when she took the job, she said it was time to “hand over the guardianship of this extraordinary, enduring mission to someone else”. Continue reading...
Eccentric designer became known for his space-age metal dresses and signature range of fragrancesThe Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne, best known for his space-age metal dresses, eccentric pronouncements and a signature range of fragrances, has died at the age of 88.His death was announced on Friday in a statement by the Puig group, which owns the Paco Rabanne brand. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#68G6A)
Former singer was sentenced under old law that allowed automatic release on licence at halfway pointThe release of Gary Glitter after having served half of his 16-year sentence will come as a shock to many, given the scale and gravity of his crimes. The reality is there was no option but to free him.Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, received a standard determinate or fixed-term sentence from a court for sexually abusing three girls, meaning he is automatically released on licence at the halfway point of his sentence. There have long been concerns about this policy, with victims and the public often left confused by the fact offenders do not serve their full sentence. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#68G4C)
Border Force boss says advances in biometrics and data security have made passports redundant – be they blue or redThe UK’s newly minted blue passports, one of the totemic achievements of Brexit, could soon be unnecessary, according to the UK’s top border official.While Britons queue again for officials to stamp their documents to permit them to cross the Channel, the director general of Border Force, Phil Douglas, said developments in biometrics and data security have made the paper passport effectively redundant – if still politically charged. Continue reading...
Team in Wisconsin pledged to ‘fan the flames’ of baseless allegations of election fraud after Trump lost thereA newly released audio recording offers a behind-the-scenes look at how former US president Donald Trump’s campaign team in a pivotal battleground state knew they had been outflanked by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election.But even as they acknowledged defeat, they decided to “fan the flames” of allegations of widespread fraud costing Trump victory there, which were ultimately debunked – repeatedly – by elections officials and the courts. Continue reading...
If bill passes through Lords, firms cannot make women redundant from moment pregnancy disclosed until child is 18 monthsA push to secure better protection from maternity discrimination has taken a step forward, after a bill extending maternity protections passed its final stage in the House of Commons.A private member’s bill led by Labour’s Dan Jarvis, which passed its final reading in the House of Commons on Friday, would prevent companies from making women redundant from the moment she discloses her pregnancy until her child is 18 months old. Continue reading...
A lawsuit for the Backstreet Boys singer describes his accusers as ‘opportunists’ taking advantage of the #MeToo movementIn December, Nick Carter was sued for sexual battery by a woman who alleged that the Backstreet Boys singer had sexually assaulted her and infected her with HPV in 2001. Now, as the Los Angeles Times reports, Carter has countersued her, as well as another accuser, describing them as “opportunists” looking to take advantage of the #MeToo movement.According to that report, Carter’s lawsuit claims the women are seeking to “destroy innocent lives” and “defame and vilify Carter and otherwise ruin his reputation for the purposes of garnering attention and fame and/or extorting money from Carter.” It also claims that Carter lost $2.3m in business in the wake of the allegations. “Carter will not allow himself to be smeared in this way,” the lawsuit reads. “Protecting one’s reputation and name by calling a liar a liar is not victim blaming or bullying. It is simply telling the truth.” Continue reading...
St George’s school asked to improve procedures after complaint from former MI6 mole within al-Qaida Aimen DeanA Scottish private school accused of discrimination by a former MI6 agent who spied inside al-Qaida has been cleared of wrongdoing but asked to improve how it handles disputes with parents.St George’s school in Edinburgh was accused by Aimen Dean, a former bombmaker who was regarded as one of the west’s most important moles inside al-Qaida, of repeatedly discriminating against his daughter because other parents feared he was a security risk. Continue reading...
Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, pleads guilty to three charges including an offence under the Treason ActA former supermarket worker who was found in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow told police he was “here to kill the queen”, it can be reported after he pleaded guilty to treason charges.Queen Elizabeth II was in residence when Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, from Southampton, broke into the grounds of the castle wearing a mask and came within sight of her private apartments on Christmas Day 2021. Continue reading...
In several new productions, playwrights explore the cost of living crisis as their industry reels from funding cuts, cancellations and low wages‘What galvanises me to get up in the morning and write is what is making me angry, upsetting me, frightening me,” says playwright Emily White. Like her previous plays, White’s next production, Joseph K and the Cost of Living, opening at Swansea Grand next month, seeks to make the political personal. It is a reimagining of Kafka’s nightmarish The Trial, whose protagonist is unexpectedly arrested but not told what for and always maintains his innocence.White was a teenager when she first read the novel, about “being trapped in this kind of bureaucratic machine”, but she returned to it more recently after feeling that there was a “creeping authoritarianism” happening, with marginalised people’s rights “being clawed back by governments all over the world”. She continues: “In my version, it’s a story about state-led persecution of particular individuals and the reasons for that. And, in the background, we are very much today in Britain, in this world that we’re living in right now.” The play is set, she says, in a country that feels as if it is teetering on the brink of resistance and revolution. As such, the story incorporates food banks, homelessness, environmental protests, strikes and the government’s attempt to limit direct action. Continue reading...
Le Nouveau Duluth enjoyed an incredible reputation on Tripadvisor – raising questions over online reviewsIt’s notoriously difficult to secure a table at the world’s greatest restaurant, but diners hoping to sample the cuisine at Le Nouveau Duluth in Montreal will have an especially hard time.That’s not only because, until recently, it had the highest Tripadvisor rating of the city’s 3,678 listed eateries – although reviews on the website suggest its menu is beyond belief. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#68G19)
Court rules against DWP in case where move to universal credit deprived claimants of £2,100 a yearTens of thousands of disabled people across the UK wrongly deprived of benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions could share in compensation potentially totalling about £150m after an appeal court ruling.Lawyers for two disabled men who first took the DWP to court five years ago have written to the government asking them to set out how they will compensate them and others who were left hundreds of pounds out of pocket each year after being moved on to universal credit. Continue reading...
Rare exhibition assembles 28 paintings by enigmatic Dutch master in one placeFor once, say its curators, “the chance of a lifetime” may be right: never before have so many works by Johannes Vermeer, the luminous 17th-century Dutch master, been assembled in the same place – and it is highly unlikely they will be again.Of the fewer than 40 paintings most experts attribute to the artist, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has obtained 28. Opening next week, its first Vermeer retrospective has sold more advance tickets than any show in the museum’s history. Continue reading...
Paul Ansell says mystery impossible to comprehend as potential witness says she doesn’t know anythingThe partner of the missing woman, Nicola Bulley, has said every scenario has come to a “brick wall” as he pledged to “stay strong” for their daughters.Speaking near the scene where the mother-of-two was last seen, Paul Ansell said the mystery of Bulley’s disappearance was “absolutely impossible” to comprehend. Continue reading...
by Alice Fowle and James Parrish for MetDesk on (#68G03)
Auckland has experienced its wettest January since records began, while temperatures plummet in southern USHistoric rainfall hit New Zealand in the past week with a one-in-170-year flooding event hitting Auckland. Auckland airport reported 249mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period on 27 January, with a month’s worth of rainfall falling in in less than an hour. Another station, Albert Park, saw 280mm in one day, with 211mm falling in less than six hours.These totals are more than 8.5 times higher than a typical January, and more than 2.5 times higher than an entire typical summer. Overall, Auckland has seen the wettest January since records began, with more than half a metre of rain falling in places. The rainfall has caused numerous landslips, flooding and damage to roads and properties with four people killed and 350 in need of emergency accommodation. More than 9,000 people are still stranded as flights in and out of Auckland experiencing delays and cancellations. Continue reading...
Sefton council understands Ainsdale site no longer under consideration after objections about access and impact on tourismAsylum seekers will not be housed in a Pontins holiday park in north-west England, according to reports.The facility outside Southport, Merseyside, was reportedly being looked at by the Home Office as an alternative to hotels in which to house asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be assessed. Continue reading...
Campaigners urge leading poultry producer Avara Foods to fund reparations for pollution from its chicken farm suppliersAvara Foods, a leading supplier of chicken to Tesco, is being urged by campaigners to pay reparations to help clean up the River Wye.The Wye, a river running from mid-Wales to the Severn estuary, has been affected by increasing algal blooms. These are partly caused by poultry farms spreading more manure than the land can absorb, say scientists, leading to excess phosphorus leaching into waterways. Continue reading...
‘It makes you feel like it’s a platform that doesn’t value us as much as it should,’ says one frustrated creator and others say it may be the ‘final straw’
Herero and Nama people demand direct talks and take Namibian government to court for accepting reparations on their behalf for 1904-1908 killingsDescendants of victims of genocide in Namibia have called on Germany to “stop hiding” and discuss reparations with them directly, as they take their own government to court for making a deal without their approval.The Herero and Nama people have gone to Namibia’s high court, rejecting an apology made in 2021 after years of talks between Namibia and Germany, which they say falls short of atoning for the 1904 to 1908 genocide, the first of the 20th century. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo and agencies on (#68FVY)
Signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves meddling with dishesThere are breaches of etiquette – drenching your rice in soy sauce, for one – and then there are heinous acts of “sushi terrorism”.Japan’s signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves interfering with food and playing pranks on other customers. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent on (#68FVM)
Exclusive: Group led by Siobhan Baillie want chancellor to use budget to relax rules and eliminate business rates for nurseriesA handful of influential Tory backbenchers have created an informal pressure group to push the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to cut the costs of childcare at next month’s budget, as experts say the sector is in crisis.The MPs, led by Siobhan Baillie, have been meeting regularly in recent weeks to discuss a range of measures they want Hunt to introduce to help parents afford care for young children and get back to work. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#68FVP)
Labour peer who fled to UK to escape Nazis says home secretary’s words ‘deeply and personally upsetting’Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer who arrived in the UK as a child fleeing the Nazis, has described Suella Braveman’s likening of refugees to invaders as “deeply and personally upsetting”, and a low point of his half century in politics.Dubs, who fled what was then Czechoslovakia unaccompanied in 1939 and came to the UK aged six as part of the Kindertransport system, condemned the home secretary for using language that painted those also fleeing persecution as “hostile people”. Continue reading...
Cancer Research UK report says NHS risks being overwhelmed by cancer diagnosesMore than 500,000 people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer every year by 2040, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK.In its report published on Friday, researchers project that if current trends continue, cancer cases will rise by one-third from 384,000 a year diagnosed now to 506,000 in 2040, taking the number of new cases every year to more than half a million for the first time. Continue reading...
Greco is wanted for murder of two brothers beaten to death in Calabria fish shop as part of ‘mafia war’, Interpol saysA convicted Italian killer, believed to belong to one of the country’s most powerful mafia organisations, has been discovered working as a pizza chef and arrested after 16 years on the run.Edgardo Greco, 63, is suspected of belonging to the notorious ’Ndrangheta, a powerful mafia organisation in Calabria, southern Italy. Continue reading...
Union dismisses ‘desperate tactics’ as chief calls for recognition of region’s ‘unique circumstances’A fire service chief has been accused of “desperate tactics” after pleading for firefighters in Northern Ireland to respond to high-risk calls during any strikes so that the army are not asked to cover emergencies in the region.The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the request showed that the government and managers were “clearly rattled” by a vote last week in favour of strike action. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Heather Stewart and Alex Lawson on (#68FJ6)
Directive comes as energy minister expresses ‘horror’ at claims British Gas contractor allegedly broke into vulnerable customers’ homesThe energy minister has expressed “horror” at revelations about a British Gas contractor allegedly breaking into vulnerable customers’ homes as the market watchdog Ofgem warned all suppliers against forcibly installing prepayment meters.Graham Stuart met Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, which owns British Gas, and demanded urgent answers to issues raised by a Times investigation into the firm’s practices, which has prompted ministerial fury. Continue reading...
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